I had also had high hopes for Brandeis before we visited with D19, and it was also on the visit list because a cousin had had a great time there, but the overall feeling she came away with was “it feels like high school”. Unlike your visit however we did not actually find the admissions center welcoming either. It was some years back so I don’t remember all the details now. I just remember it was a snowy day in April and everything about Brandeis felt cold, both physically and atmosphere-wise, and it was in stark contrast to our visit to BU (which stayed on the shortlist) later that day.
So, the same would be true of an old, Gothic building that hadn’t been renovated in 100 years?
We just visited Boston College (which I haven’t posted yet) and some of those buildings are old and dark but majestic and inspirational. Living near Yale, I’ve been in many many buildings there that are beyond old but are old with character and patina and they make you feel inspired by their history.
I’m not sure what your objection is to my characterization or my reaction. I know the difference between old and dilapidated. We went into some spaces that I would even go so far as to say were gross. So much so that I was embarrassed that as a Jewish person that this was considered a “Jewish university”. It may be that because this was during the summer and there were no students around we could only focus on the facilities. Perhaps if there was more activity going on to distract us we wouldn’t be harping on the physical structure so much.
The idea of the thread is to give subjective impressions. I don’t think we need to make people rationalize their responses to what they saw. I’m sure everyone here has even been on visits where they and their kids had totally different impressions from what they saw.
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Well, yeah. I read the original post and wondered what the different terms being used meant. Definitely did not mean to put anyone on the spot.
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That makes things clearer.
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This is what knocked Fordham off the list for my math-major C25—beautiful campus including the interiors of most of the buildings, and a perfect location for that particular child, but the interior of the building that houses math (along with a couple other departments) can best be described as “low rent office building probably in need of maintenance”.
The rest of the campus was delightful, but the kid knew where a chunk of the next four years would be spent, and was having none of it.
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I think part of the reason visits are useful is to compare as well. So we weren’t very impressed with Brandeis’s dorms but it was the first college we visited and we soon realized that most freshmen dorms aren’t great (parents did not go to college in the US so those were all different to what we’d seen elsewhere).
But then when we visited Boulder, I thought the EnvD dept was .. ok but not great, a little shabby around the edges, had some decent facilities though. Then when we visited UIUC, the difference in architecture facilities was just such a stark contrast (in favor of uiuc). C26 also saw Cal Poly’s studios from the summer workshop- that is an example of a building that just looks so ugly and off-putting from the outside but (I didn’t see the studios) was apparently much better inside.
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Wesleyan has an entire hillside of first-year dorms built in the mid-century modern style, the product of a growth spurt in the 1950s. As a group, they probably qualify as among the oldest buildings on campus. But they are roomy with lots of natural light; wide corridors conducive to meetings - decks on every upper floor. In fifty years, I’ve heard very few complaints from anyone who ever actually lived in them.
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Many universities have some crappy old buildings. I fondly remember Building 20 from when I was at MIT. But I understand the OP’s feelings and have felt that way on some college visits too.
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Building conditions could become an issue for me, as a full pay parent, if it’s a college or university with a high tuition/r&b price, that I am having to write a check for. I would wonder why I am paying so much when the buildings are run down. As a parent of a kid with severe environmental allergies, if I observed visible mold or smelled an overwhelming amount mildew in a dorm, we’d have to take that into our decision consideration. Buildings can be old, but still clean and well-maintained.
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Deferred maintenance is an indicator of a school’s financial health.
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I don’t think that’s always the case. One of the most run down schools we visited has a top rating from Moody’s and has a $25 billion endowment. The admissions buildings and the sports complexes were amazing. Exteriors of buildings looked fabulous. Inside of academic buildings and dorms were just sad.
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Ok, or bad planning 
PS also, are we talking about the same thing? Is “sad” just a bit outdated, or is it peeling paint and broken things?
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LOL. That was my original question. 
I’ll give another example from Wesleyan, a college with a wide range of architectural styles and periods. Its main library is the oldest of all the NESCACs, a 1928 Colonial Revival masterpiece designed by a McKIm, Mead and White protege (all the admissions tours wind up there.) Inside, there are some very nice reading rooms, but at its core are old-fashioned stacks that haven’t changed in nearly 100 years. Dark? Yes. Dreary? You bet. A deal breaker?
Labs that looked like the equipment was from back in my time at college 30 years prior. Lack of technology, shops, and maker spaces. Terrible mildewy/mold smells in the dorms.
We toured a number of schools back to back and the difference between engineering spaces was striking and frankly shocking. Schools that weren’t investing in new tech were a huge turn off to my D.
Probably didn’t help that our first tours were the big engineering powerhouse schools that were clearly pouring a ton of money into their engineering programs.
Funnily enough, when we visited Vassar, they put the admissions info session in one of their larger lecture halls. We sat next to a very broken couple of chairs in the middle of our row. It was quite surprising and it left a memorable impression.
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My D26 was admitted to Vassar but could not forgive horrendously peeling paint in the gym. I was not there (her mom took her on that trip), but she said that the walls “looked like a eucalyptus tree” they were peeling so much.
If you mention Vassar to D26……this is always the first thing she brings up.
These things matter. We took 30+ tours and it was clear that some schools get it and others do not.
I would also add……big endowments don’t always result in good building maintenance.
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Can’t speak to the gym but Vassar just opened a big brand new Admissions and Career center building last spring. So some of these issues are being addressed.
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Yes……and the Bridge science center is great and the school has a fabulous new hotel on campus.
My wife went to Vassar and sits on some committees there. I have been to Vassar numerous times for her reunions.
I think the moral of the story is that sometimes……you are only as good as your weakest link.
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